Wednesday, August 16, 2006

'I am job'

Ten days until I return home for the weekend before heading back to Syracuse for my junior year. It's exciting, saddening and all the time intriguing. The summer's definitely been worth it: I've learned a lot, gained job experience, got a clip, made lots of friends, did lots of partying and had fun. I'm just looking forward to the next adventure under the skies, whatever that is.

I got a job at the front desk at Goldstein. I'm glad I found something, because I was getting worried about not being able to find anything and possibly being forced to work the dining hall. ... This job pays only $6.75 an hour, 10 hours a week with two- to four-hour shifts. Shouldn't be too bad, and we get to do work if we pay attention to what's going on around us at the same time. I was also thinking about either Syra-Juice or becoming a barista at Starbucks, but I can always save those ideas for my senior year. Lord knows they may even pay better. Don't Starbucks baristas get tips sometimes?

I finally finished and submitted my espresso centerpiece for The Link. I'm not sure yet when it will run, but I know I'll be getting paid in October, so perhaps sometime around then, or maybe a little sooner. I need someone to send me a copy of The Buffalo News when it runs.

OK, so I know I said I wouldn't, but a week and a half of weak coffee without the luxury of a creamy head of foamed milk has made me start to miss my espresso machine. I saw an electric pump machine by Hamilton Beach in Target the other day for just $10 more than I spent on my Krups steam machine, and my heart sank; I wanted it bad. Maybe next year I'll splurge on a real nice one. The one I have now isn't even a year old yet ...

Speaking of new appliances, I bought a new CD/DVD combo drive for my laptop, because the one I have now finally took a crap. It had been acting up on me since it came with the computer, so I finally got a really nice deal on a used one (exact same model as I have now, only I assume this one actually works) on Ebay. This is one reason I can't wait to get home: I get to play with all the new goodies I've purchased. I should have had them sent here, but whatever. One and a half more weeks won't be too bad.

I'm not looking forward to the last stretch of work. I have today and tomorrow off, then eight days of straight night shifts. I wish I had more opportunities to cook dinner (I'm making orange/garlic pan-seared tilapia with corn on the cob and Italian salad tonight), because that's where I get real pleasure out of my day ... that and watching Food Network. Perusing food Web sites during downtime at work just doesn't do it much for me anymore.